Gravity's Pull
by Internal Confliction
Summary: Zuko hangs his head as shame engulfs him. Finding the courage and strength within, he raises his eyes and holds the contact with hers before asking, with a plea clear in his tone, "What can I do to make it you?" A Zutara story beginning on the cliff side and moving through their journey as they find forgiveness, friendship and love in the cruel world in which they live...


The thunder rumbles over the tips of the clouds, riding the silver beasts with power and speed as it rolls. Lightning strikes through the pitch black sky, momentarily eclipsing the feeble light of the pin prick of the stars, trying to illuminate the impenetrable darkness. Small tear drops fall gracefully from the sky along gravity's pull and form the beacon of a promise, an omen of an impending downpour. Another crack of lightning shoots through the sky, rupturing the clouds ready to burst, creating in its wake an inescapable path for the rain to follow. The torrent brings with it the cold and heaviness of a broken world, a shattered heart, a despairing struggle. A perfectly formed tear-drop reflects the surrounding world with startling clarity as it falls before slamming into the unrelenting earth below. Others follow in its path but fortunately reunite with their own as they plummet into the depths of the ocean, becoming part of the raging waves that throw themselves without abandonment against the immovable cliff side. The sea continues to rage ceaselessly in spirals of the deepest blue to the brightest foaming whites, each wave galloping forward like wild brumbies in full flight, attempting to scale the insurmountable wall of solid rock that looms above. Atop the sheer face of molten stone, filled with flecks of grey, brown, black and blue, covered with spider-webs of moss crawling their way to the peak, a blanket of vibrant green grass lays draped across the rolling hills.

Scattered carelessly like abandoned dominoes of the Gods, giant pillars of granite stand at various heights and angles reflecting the chaos of a young woman's mind. Sitting perched upon a fallen stone column, which is remiss of an era long gone, the cry of a girl, screaming in frustration, echoes across the water. It escapes from a throat ragged raw only to be ripped apart by the wind and scattered into oblivion.

For one to cast their eye across this scene, they might initially miss this lone figure with her rich chocolate skin and hair of the deepest brown, riding on the wind. Draped in the robes of vibrant blue with trimmings of the softest white fur, the clothes of her mother tribe, she blends almost seemingly into the surrounding world. She remains hunched in anger, gazing across the water with which she shares such a deep bond. Her face is delicately framed by two twists of hair adorned with opaque blue beads. Her eyes of the brightest cerulean are rimmed with tears of anger and hurt which as they fall, become one with the rain and the elements.

Ghosts of the past flicker across her mind. Memories of throwing her rage at him, a man who personifies her anger, her frustration, her sorrow. She sits, recalling her imprisonment in Bah Sing Se, back when she felt she knew who her enemies where. _But what do you care? You're the Fire Lords son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood. _She remembers as he sat there, letting her take out all of her rage before confessing the source of her anguish. _The fire nation took my mother from me. _She remembers the feelings of sympathy as he begins to talk about his mother and the confusion that this caused her. And she remembers feeling guilty, much to her dismay and confusion. _I'm sorry I yelled at you. It's just that for so long now whenever I imagined the face of the enemy it was your face. _The recollection of his crestfallen expression when he understood the implications of her words, the pain in her eyes he subconsciously touched his scar and accepted her hatred, broke her heart. Her anguish at that time confuses her still but fuels her rage as he turned her for offer of friendship aside and instead fought against them once again in the crystal catacombs, a battle which almost cost the world of Aang's life. _I thought you had changed! _

So deep are her thoughts, she is too lost to hear the soft footfalls of a person approaching. A figure stares up at her on the cliff edge, a boy with his toe in adulthood, pauses momentarily in his approach at the sight of her. Struggling inside with his own emotions but revealing none on his face, he begins again to move forward, with his shoulders, back and head high. His white porcelain skin, so stark in contrast to hers, is iridescent in the darkness whilst a mop of long hair, falling across his face, blends seamlessly into the night. Similarly to the young girl, he is also dressed in the robes of his mother nation, however his colours are shades of crimson and gold. Fabric of the highest quality adorn his strong, muscular body, the colours of which portray the power-hunger and widely feared Fire Nation. The wind howls again, throwing his untamed hair across his face as his strikingly bright, molten gold eyes shine with ferocity and hidden power. His face would make many woman swoon if not for the scar of a burn covering his left eye and extending across his cheek bone to his ear, leaving a painful mark with deep ridges across his features. The moon light breaks through the clouds just as the young woman becomes aware to the presence of a person behind her.

She glances quickly over her shoulder, her warrior reflexes always on the defence before recognising the figure behind her. _Zuko,_ she thinks with hatred and disdain. Throwing a glare cold enough to freeze ice his way, she turns back to the ocean before walking off. _Katara, _he sighs quietly to himself in exasperation before exclaiming out loud, "This isn't fair. Everyone else seems to trust me now, what is it with you?". He gestures towards her with pent up frustration as he holds in his anger. Her hatred is fair, he knows, he just doesn't understand its ferocity. Still facing the ocean, Katara exclaims in disbelief before whipping around to face him, "Oh, everyone trusts you now?!" She clutches her fist to her chest in moment of passion as her emotions begin to overwhelm her. "I was the first person to trust you, remember?!" She shouts at him, finally releasing her torrent of burning fervour as she gestures vaguely across the vast expand of ocean in the general direction of the Earth Kingdom. "Back in Bah Sing Sa, and you turned around and betrayed me, betrayed all of us!" The slight tremor in her voice is the only indication of her true anguish and serves as a reminder of how raw the pain is that she still feels.

Zuko hangs his head as shame engulfs him. The words of his uncle drift back to him in his anguish. _It's time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions; who are you and what do you want?_ Forgiveness. Finding the courage and strength within, he raises his head and holds her eye contact before asking, with a plea clear in his tone, "What can I do to make it up to you?" Katara scoffs cynically before rhetorically exclaiming, "You really want to know? Hmm.." She begins to march directly towards Zuko determinedly. "Maybe you could re-conquer Ba Sing Sah in the name of the Earth King?" She continues in her stride before stepping into his personal space and bring her face right up in front of his as she shouts with a bone-chilling glare, "Or I know! You could bring my Mother back!"

She slams her shoulder into his and she storms past him. Zuko glances back at her as she goes, leaving him alone on the cold, barren cliff side as his eyes flash briefly with pain and regret. He remains, forsaken, as he battles to control his emotions. He fights against the memories of his own family that threaten to crush him, for he knows only too well the incessant emptiness of a lost mother. He continues in his struggle for control as the wind continues to howl and the waves continue to roll against the cliff, before he buries it inside again and replaces his cold, external demeanour. Breathing deeply, he heads back to camp, intent on finding his absolution and gaining her forgiveness.


End file.
